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THE AWAKENING OF 
HARRISBURG 




Some Account of the Improvement Movement 

Be^un in 1902; with the Progress of 

the Work to the End of 1906 

By JF HORACE MCFARLAND 



Orisioally 'Presented at the Boston Conference of the National Municipal League in 1902, and 

printed as its Pamphlet No. 8. Now revised and brought up to date by the author, with 

additional illustrations, and published in cooperation with the Municipal League of 

Harrisburg and the Harrisburg Board of Trade, by The National Municipal League. 



Price, 10 Cents 



Fl5q 









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JUL 1 »9i6 



The Awakening of Harrisburg 

BY J. HORACE MCFARLAND 

President American Civic Association, Secretary Municipal League pf Harrisburg 

THE capital city of Pennsylvania, with unusual advantaged 
of geographical situation, and surrounded by much natural 
beauty of river and mountain, island and valley, had pursued 
the even tenor of its growth in wealth and population for some- 
thing over a century, with but little thought of esthetic develop- 
ment. To the problems of water-supply^ street paving, sewage 
disposal and the other questions that must beset congestion of 
population, only incidental attention had been paid, without any 
comprehensive view of the situation or any attempt to provide 
adequately for the future. 

In the course of time, individual citizens began to make com- 
ment on the failure of the town to measure up to the more agree- 
able conditions found in other municipalities, and numberless plans 
were proposed for improvement. As usual with such propositions, 
their most useful effect was in creating discussion, for it is seldom 
that the citizens of any community will agree to adopt as best the 
plans or suggestions of other members of the same community. "A 
prophet is not without honor, save in his own country." 

It may fairly be said that the real improvement of Harrisburg 
began with an illustrated talk on "The City Beautiful," presented 
. December 20, 1900, by Miss Mira Lloyd Dock, 

. , - before a large number of Harrisburg citizens gath- 

ered in the Board of Trade auditorium. Miss 
Dock, one of the energetic founders of the Civic Club, had long 
been a prophet of improvement. She now showed pictorially the 
disgusting civic conditions in Harrisburg, contrasting these with 
enlightened conditions elsewhere. Hundreds of citizens then real- 
ized, for the first time, that a rarely beautiful river bank was not 
the best place for a public dump, and that a modern city owes its 
inhabitants, in return for taxation, something more than police pro- 
tection, typhoid-laden water, imperfect sewerage, dirty and unpaved- 
street^, and deficient park and playground facilities. 

(i) 



. ' > / .* • ' • i 



2 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

The smoking spark of municipal betterment was by this lecture 
fanned into a flame. The newspapers gave constant attention to 
the more outbreaking nuisances in the city, and talk, more talk, 
and yet more talk, followed. 

Definite progress began when, on May 3, 1901, Mr. J. V. W. 

Reynders, an active business man, a noted bridge engineer, and, 

, best of all, a good citizen, published a letter in the 

' . . Harrisburg "Telegraph," reciting the futility of 

mere talk, saying that money should be appropri- 
ated by the councils for the obtaining of expert advice upon the 
Harrisburg difficulties and their remedies, and proposing that if the 
city councils could not or would not provide the funds, he would be 
the first contributor of $100 to a fund of $5,000 for this purpose. 
This suggestion was strongly approved, and, as it was followed by 
Mr. Reynders' energetic personal effort, the subscription required 
was completed in ten days. It came from sixty persons, and is 
notable because of its amount relative to the city's population and 
wealth, and relative to the unselfishness of the subscription, which 
was really for the purpose of discovering how these same citizens 
might tax themselves for doing better by the town. To do as well 
in proportion. New York would need to raise in ten days more 
than $400,000 for a local public purpose not connected with any 
charity; Chicago about $200,000, and Philadelphia just a little less. 
Yet, as will be noted, Harrisburg's citizens doubled the $5,000 
within barely six months. 

A meeting and organization of those who had subscribed this 
fund followed. The remarkable condition appeared that the city's 
more conservative and phlegmatic citizens were now become its 
most progressive residents. The Harrisburg League for Municipal 
Improvements was formed, and an Executive Committee was charged 
with the duty of obtaining expert advice, and with power to expend 
the $5,000. The mayor, the city engineer, and a representative from 
each branch of the city councils were invited to act with this com- 
mittee, thus securing "semi-official cooperation, and recognizing the 
existing political conditions. 

After careful and painstaking inquiry, this Ex- 
Selection of . ^ . 11 

_ ecutive Committee retamed three emment engi- 

neers: Mr. James H. Fuertes, of New York, to 
report upon the sewerage and filtration problems; Mr. Warren H. 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 3 

Manning, of Boston, to formulate plans for parks; and Mr. M. R. 
Sherrerd, of Newark, New Jersey, to report upon the question of 
paving. These gentlemen promptly took up the work assigned, 
and during September, 1901, three comprehensive reports, supple- 
mented by numerous detailed drawings and diagrams, were presented 
to' the Executive Committee. 

It was discovered that Harrisburg's debt could be increased by 
$1,090,000, upon consent of the voters, under the constitutional 
provision limiting the debt to seven per cent of the assessed valua- 
tion. It was also discovered with very great satisfaction by the 
Executive Committee that the recommendations of the engineers, 
with but shght modification, could be carried out within the city's 
resources. 

The reports of the engineers, with the essential maps and dia- 
grams, and a concise summary and recommendation by the Execu- 
tive Committee, were published in pamphlet form. This pamphlet, 
entitled "Proposed Municipal Improvements for Harrisburg, Penn- 
sylvania," has long been out of print, though in constant and urgent 
demand by the many other municipaHties which are following the 
example of Harrisburg. 

It should be noted that this movement was entirely unofficial up 
to this time. To become effective, the consent of the citizens was re- 
quired to the proposed increase of debt, — that consent to be obtained 
through an election ordered by the city councils for the purpose. 
Harrisburg was not without those citizens who cannot see beyond 
the penny upon which their eyes are always focused, and it also had 
a large number of inhabitants who were properly conservative and 
required to know what the money was to be used for, and how, 
before voting for additional loans. 

It was realized, therefore, that if this effort was to succeed, the 
people must be fully informed as to the proposed improvements, and 

„ , ,. convinced that it was wise to enter upon the expen- 

Safeguarding ,. • , « i- f 1 1 

.. ° . diture required. A prevainng fear that the money 

the Work. •,,• 1 jji 

might be misspent was also considered and com- 
pletely dissipated by the preparation and passage of an ordinance — 
introduced with the ordinance authorizing the election to determine 
upon the loan — creating a Board of Public Works, charged with 
the expenditure of most of the money involved in the loan. These 
ordinances were pressed to immediate passage, and three citizens of 



4 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

ability, integrity and high standing, universally satisfactory to the 
people, were appointed as this Board of Public Works, long in 
advance of having a dollar to expend or any work to do. That is, 
before the vote was taken, the people in Harrisburg knew who was 
to spend the money they were asked to vote. 

To promote knowledge amongst the people as to the advisability 
of the large increase in the public debt proposed, an additional fund 
of $5,000 was raised, the total of both funds, indeed, amounting to 
$10,221.55, of which 90 per cent was contributed by the sixty 
citizens who pay nearly one-eighth of the taxes in the city. This, 
as previously mentioned, is equivalent to a subscription of over 
$800,000 in New York city. 

The preliminary organization was now made permanent, with 
the name of the Municipal League of Harrisburg, under a simple 
but model constitution. Surely Harrisburg might now lay claim to 
having awakened! 

The Executive Committee of the League and its sub-committees 

now planned a comprehensive and somewjiat sensational campaign 

„, „ . of education. An abridged edition of the report of 

The Campaign , ,,,,•• r 

, p , .. the engmeers was prepared under the direction or 

a Press Committee, which committee also was 
charged with the duty of presenting a carefully progressive series of 
arguments through the three daily papers each day of the six weeks' 
campaign. These daily papers, it should be noted, gave most freely 
and fully of their space, influence and help to this movement, with- 
out which help success could not have been attained. Through a 
corps of paid distributors, chosen from among the high-school boys, 
two from each voting precinct of the city, a progressively argumen- 
tative series of documents, tracts and appeals was placed in every 
house in the city twice each week during the campaign. 

A Committee on Meetings arranged for public gatherings in 
various parts of the city, at which were presented, through the 
stereopticon and by the voice of eloquent speakers, the various plans 
and propositions involved, as well as pictorial representations of the 
unpleasant conditions it was hoped to correct. Headquarters were 
opened in the business center of the town, and a courteous attendant 
there explained the proposed improvements, showed the diagrams 
and handed literature to all callers. 

A Committee on Cooperation wrote to every clergyman in the 




Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, just above Harrisburg, over the beautiful Susquehanna River 

(See page 5) 




Beeches in Wetzel's Swamp, now included in the new park system as part of Wildwood Park 

(See pages 8 and 10) 




The shores of the Susquehanna within the city's limits, showing unsanitary beach — 1902 







North Front Street, on the bank of the Susquehanna, in 1902. An unpleasant dump was close by 

on the river-bank; it has since been improved and a park established. The street 

has been paved with asphalt, with a grass-plot on the right. 




Street-car used to awaken voters before and on election day (1902). (See page 11) 




South Frpnt Street, showing on right Riverside Park. The street is paved with asphalt, and there is 
a grass-plot on the left.— 1906 




A school-house in Harrisburg, 1902, showing the style of tree-trimming then approved, as well as 
the older school architecture 




The "Lincoln" school building in Harrisburg, completed 1905. Note central grass-plot in street 

(See page 18) 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 5 

city, urging his support through the preaching of at least two ser- 
mons upon the gospel of municipal cleanliness, and a competent 
speaker explained the plans of improvement to the Ministerial Asso- 
ciation at an assigned meeting. The clergymen responded, as they 
always do to every proper effort, and three-fourths of the pulpits 
rang with this gospel of civic decency before the day of election. 
The Catholic bishop of the diocese issued a letter urging his par- 
ishioners to support the improvement loan, and the Jewish rabbi 
joined in the movement. Every organization in the city, of what- 
ever nature, was addressed and furnished with arguments and 
literature. 

While the newspapers and the more progressive business men 

were earnestly supporting this movement, there was not wanting a 

substratum of active and vigorous opposition, in 

YF ., , , one case emphasizing itself in a house-to-house 

Manifested. ... o 

canvass agamst the improvement movement, oome 

landlords threatened a large increase in rents if the loan was voted, 

and just how this threat reacted in favor of the movement will be 

shown later. 

In the first arousing meeting held in the Court House, which 
was thronged, as well as in the subsequent meetings in various parts 
of the city, we threw upon the screen the ordinance, showing the 
legal form of the loan which the people were asked to approve, so 
that there could be no misrepresentation. (See third cover page.) 

One of the essential features of this comprehensive and coordi- 
nated plan of improvement, including water filtration, sewer exten- 
sion, street paving and a park system, was the 

„ alteration of the city's sewage disposal system and 

Sewers. , . ; • t:'- -i . 

the improvement of its sewers, rive miles above 

the city, the Susquehanna river breaks through the low hills which 
in primeval days held in check its waters, in a beautiful gap, now 
spanned by the largest stone railroad bridge in the world, erected 
by the Pennsylvania railroad. The driveway along the clean and 
beautiful east bank of the Susquehanna toward the city showed 
nothing but encouraging conditions until civilization was encoun- 
tered within the city limits, where billboards, dumps and the stony 
and sewage-encrusted beach of the river took the place of native 
trees and grassy banks. In the meetings held, pictures of these 
dumps and Ijillboards always brought a gasp of surprise from citizens 



6 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

who had grown to accept them as inevitable, but were thus caused 
to realize for the first time their nastiness. A beautiful line of 
Norway maples in bloom right near the city's pumping station was 
contrasted with the unpleasant conditions of the river-bank adja- 
cent, and then a cartoon showing old John Harris, presumed to be 
holding his nose as he revisited the once green banks of the river 
along which lies the city he founded, brought the laugh which 
always helps the assimilation of disagreeable information. 

The problem of a pure water supply was of the greatest impor- 
tance to Harrisburg. Drinking unfiltered Susquehanna river water 
after it had received the sewage of twenty-four cities and towns, 
with 522,799 population, it was not to be wondered at that the 
typhoid fever statistics were disgracefully alarming. 

We showed graphically that smallpox and diphtheria were inno- 
cent diseases compared with the less feared typhoid fever, and that 

„ „, . a radical increase in the percentage of typhoid cases 

Unfiltered , t. , . / 

— , was occurnng each year, 1 akmg mto account 

the fact that all deaths from typhoid fever in excess 

of six in the one hundred thousand are insisted by sanitary experts 

to be simply municipal murder, we showed that Harrisburg, which 

could without fault answer for three deaths per year, had killed in 

the preceding year twenty-four persons beyond the proper limit. 

At this point in the illustrated addresses it was the custom to 



SMALLPOX — DUE TO INFECTION AND DIRT 
In 1901 — 103 cases reported — I death 

DIPHTHERIA — due to infection and dirt 

In 1901 — 1 17 cases reported — 13 deaths 

TVDUnin milTD 98 P®*" ««"* «•"« *<> drinking 
lirnUlU rLVLK — unfiltered river water 

In 1901 — 211 cases reported — 27 deaths 



Thus TYPHOID FEVER, a preventable diseasei due to sewage- 
laden water, in I90I killed 
TWICE as many as Diphtheria, and 
27 times as many as the dreaded Smallpox 



VOTE THE ANTI-TYPHOID TICKET 



Lantern-slide used in the campaign of education— 1902 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 7 

throw on the screen a great interrogation mark, and to ask for 
questions. They came, and sometimes in no friendly 
. , , fashion! At one of the meetings, held in a section 

of the city most hostile to the movement, in a 
cold hall, one cold January night, with a still colder audience, a 
man who had been following the lecturer about the city and 
fomenting covert opposition, blurted out with the query when the 
interrogation mark came on, "Do you know, sir, that there are five 
hundred thousand bacteria in a cubic inch of milk?" The lecturer 
assured him that he had not recently counted the bacteria, and that 
we were not discussing milk, adding the return question, "Do 
you know how the bacteria got into the milk?" It was answered 
by a loud-voiced gentleman at the rear of the room, seemingly 
inspired by Providence to say, "Because the cows drink unfiltered 
Susquehanna river water!" The laugh which followed raised the 
temperature of the room, though it did not silence the objector, 
who returned to the charge by saying that this talk about bad 
water was all nonsense; that he had used the water for years; that 
it was good water, and that typhoid fever was not caused by it. 
He was then accused by the lecturer of having a filter in his own 
house, which he admitted, unwisely adding, "But it cost only 
$1.85." The lecturer instantly seized the opportunity by shaming 
this man (a large property-owner, with his money invested in real 
estate rented at high prices) for thus securing the little trickle of 
partially pure water he cared for himself at a cost of $1.85, while 
for less than two dollars taxation on the thousand of valuation he 
could help to give all the people all the pure water they needed, not 
only to drink but to bathe in! The man's opposition was nullified 
by the hilarity which followed this animated exchange of question 
and answer, and the improvement temperature of the room became 
quite tolerable. The speaker was not again thus annoyed. 

In addition to furnishing the water which Harrisburg drank 
unfiltered, the broad Susquehanna river, fronting the length of the 
. city, received the sewage of the city, turned into 

J. it by means of many sewers, the outfalls of which 

caused an intolerable nuisance at the low stages 
of the river prevaihng in the summer months. Mr. Fuertes' plan 
involved the erection near the southern limit of the city, at a favor- 
able point, of a low dam, in order to maintain a constant minimum 



8 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

height of water in front of the city, thus covering the sewer out- 
falls, providing by sluiceways for the rapid disposal of the sewage, 
and also affording delightful boating facilities through the slack 
water which would thus take the place of the strong current exist- 
ing. This proposed dam aroused much opposition in the part of 
the city nearest to which it was to be erected. It also introduced 
a little element of humor, for the lecturer who explained its plan 
and location was gravely assured at several meetings that a dam 
four and a half feet high would inevitably cause a rise in the water 
level of that many feet, even in a twenty-foot flood ! The engi- 
neer's diagrams were used to combat this error, backed up by an 
actual instance produced from a river in India in which a dam had 
been erected under similar conditions. These arguments proved 
convincing, and while the dam, it may be said in passing, has not yet 
been built, the money is assigned for its erection, and when certain 
legislative difficulties are removed it will undoubtedly be built. 

A serious menace to the health of Harrisburg existed through 
the turning of the sewage of about two-fifths of the city's popula- 

^ tion into Paxton Creek, a small stream running 

The Paxton „ , , r , c u 

parallel to the course of the busquehanna river, 

y^TQ&k. JNUISSUCB. r ^ t • ^ 111 t_ 

east of the low ridge serving as a backbone to the 
city. Paxton Creek, flowing through a beautiful natural park known 
at the beginning of this improvement movement as Wetzel's Swamp, 
but now much more appropriately entitled Wildwood Park, was an 
altogether clean and sightly stream until it flowed into civiHzation, 
where the usual adornment of dump, filth and liquid wastes changed 
it into a foul open sewer. The pictures following this stream 
through, its woodland course into the city, and giving in large detail 
the dumps, sewer outfalls and filth, so far as these could be rep- 
resented by the camera (the stench being unphotographable !), 
invariably produced a sensation when shown. The fact thus 
impressed that, while Paxton Creek could receive at low water 
without damage to health the sewage of a thousand people, it was 
receiving all the time the sewage of twenty thousand, strongly 
enforced the vital importance of this part of the improvement work. 
The engineer's plan for remedying this trouble included the 
erection of a great intercepting sewer parallehng Paxton Creek and 
receiving all but the flood -water discharge of the section of the city 
draining into it. He also provided for the improving of the channel 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 9 

of the creek, so that it would become a clean and wholesome 
stream. This work has been completely accomplished, and the 
intercepting sewer has been in successful service for more than two 
years. The improvement in the appearance of Paxton Creek is 
most noticeable. 

Harrisburg had a most inadequate park provision at the incep- 
tion of this movement, as has before been suggested. Setting aside 

_ ^ ^ the unkept and irregular strip of grass along the 

Inadequate . . ... , 

Parks "^^^ front, sometimes edgmg an unpleasant dump, 

and the little Capitol Park of sixteen acres, mostly 

taken up by the buildings of the state administration, Reservoir 

Park, of less than twenty-five acres, inconveniently situated more 

than a mile from the center of the city, afforded the only recreation 

spot. Of playgrounds there were none, save as the ladies of the 

city had temporarily converted several of the unpleasant school-yards 

into summer playgrounds, maintained for a short time only. When 

the pictures of these playgrounds were shown to people, contrasted 

with an orchard view close to one of the schools — but separated 

from it by a barbed-wire fence — there was no difficulty in noting the 

desire of all the people for adequate park and playground facilities. 

In this connection, some Httle attention was paid to the crowded 

streets of the city, to the telegraph poles which hne its highways, 

„.„, , , and to the billboards which sometimes hide beau- 
Billboards and -r 1 • T 1 , ni 1 j: 

p , titul vistas. In one particular case, a billboard of a 

most offensive character shut out the view of a 

tract of land proposed in Mr. Manning's plan to be taken as a 

small park. When the question was asked, "Which do you prefer, 

the trees on the banks or the billboards on the streets?" there was 

always a shout of "Trees!" 

Attention was also paid to the mutilation of existing trees on the 

city streets, through the operations of so-called "tree trimmers," 

^ „ , who are usually nothing but ignorant butchers. 

Tree Butchers. .. ,. r,,,u 

A picture showing one of these butchers in the 

act of ruining a good tree was most effective, and it is a significant 

commentary on the work thus undertaken to know that one of 

these men whose living was made ready by ruining trees has 

recently broken into the public prints with a two-column stream 

of abuse of the man who called attention to his acts of mutilation, 

and who, he says, is interfering with his "business." 



lo THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 



HARRISBURG LEAGUE FOR MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS 

ACTUAL COST TO TAXPAYERS OF 
ALL PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS 
UNDER PROBABLE CONDITIONS: 

For Pure Water . \ In 190a— WO I NCREASE WHATEVER 

'* Paxton Creek I " '903 — % mill increase 

Clean-up • . I ., . ^ -n « 

'^ I '904 — 1 mill " 

" Better Sewers / 

" 1905— IX '"•'•s •' 

'• Less Mosqui- I ..,906-2 mills •• 
toes and Ma- / 
laria ... I 

" More Parks . \ AVERAGE ^X MILLS, 

"Justice in I o** '^^^ than one-third of a cent per 
Street Paving / day on $1,000 valuation 



Lantern slide used in campaign of education. The tax-rate increase for 1907 was one-half mill 
LESS than the promise for 1906 

The lack in Harrisburg of public bathing facilities was touched 
upon in this campaign, and later, with the result of creating a strong 

. desire for the establishment of public baths. 

p hV T5 fh ^^^ need for street paving in Harrisburg re- 

quired but little discussion, for all were cognizant 
of it. True, we had one or two paved streets, but the seldom-swept 
asphalt, thickly coated with mud and filth, had long been lost to view. 

When entering this campaign, it had been my personal conten- 
tion with the Executive Committee that I should have permission 
to enlarge upon the necessity for parks. My excellent associates 
were not convinced either of the absolute necessity for parks or of 
the advisability of pressing the park movement among the people. 
Dechning to do the work upon any other basis than that of giving 
full importance to the provision of proper outdoor recreation facili- 
ties, I was permitted to have my way. The presentation of our park 
needs to the people soon justified itself absolutely ; for in some parts 
of the city in which little attention could be secured to matters of 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG ii 



HARRISBUBG LEAGUE FOR MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS 

COST TO RENT-PAYERS OF ALL 

IMPROVEMENTS, IF LANDLORDS 

DO THE SQUARE THING 

On a Property Assessed at $1,000 for City Tax the 
INCREASE In City Tax will be: 

In 1902— NOT A SINGLE PENNY 

in 1903—50 CENTS for the year 

In 1904 — $1 for the year 

In 1905— $1.50 fo*" *he year 

In 1906 — $2L foi" ^^^ year 

Or, .'f the MOST UNFAVORABLE conditions exist, the aver- 
age after 1902 would be S1,8T PC y®*""' — about 15X 
cents per month. 



Lantern-slides used in the campaign of education. {Set page 12) 

sewerage, filtration and paving, the appeal of near-by green trees and 
grassy lawns, located where tired mothers might give their children 
the recreation due to every American child, was noticeably strong. 
The park propaganda became a strong element in obtaining favor. 

I have mentioned before the possibiHty of a great natural park, 
known at the time this movement began as Wetzel's Swamp, and 

,.„ . esteemed by most of the citizens of Harrisburg to 

Wetzel s . 

„ ,, be a boggy neighborhood, available only as a burial- 

place for deceased domestic animals and as a resort 
for tramps. Only a few of us knew that this "swamp," inserted, as 
it were, into the very center of what must be the future city of 
Harrisburg, was one of the greatest potentialities in America for 
a superb natural park. Mr. Manning had enthusiastically advocated 
the including of all of it, so as to provide here a park of over five 
hundred acres in the city's system. Very little of the land included 
was used for agricultural purposes, and, at first laughed at, the 
proposition soon became a most important adjunct to our improve- 
ment propaganda. A^s pictures were shown indicating the beauties 



12 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

of this natural park, — with its great trees, grassy roads and pleasant 
open spaces ; with its succession of wild flowers, from the hepatica 
in earliest spring, through the time of violets, dogwoods, redbuds, 
irises, marshmallows, and other members of the rich flora of Central 
Pennsylvania, to the close of the blooming season with the witch 
hazel's defiance of the frost, — a strong desire was evident to possess 
this land for the good of all. It required little argument to show the 
advisability of taking as park territory land in which great trees of 
the oak, maple, tulip and ash were already matured. 

But after all this appeal, it was absolutely necessary to discuss 
each time the question of economics. This the Executive Com- 
mittee had foreseen, and a statement had been se- 

T ^ cured from the city treasurer and a city controller, 

Improvements. . i , , i • r • 

showmg the actual probable mcrease of taxation 

for five years, under favorable conditions and under unfavorable con- 
ditions. These statements were thrown upon the screen, accom- 
panied by one showing the cost to rent-payers of all improvements, 
"if landlords did the square thing." 

Just here may be mentioned the fact that the chief opposition 
to the improvement loan came from the landlords of the humbler 
houses, rented at relatively high figures. In some cases the- land- 
lords had taken time by the forelock and had raised rents from one 
to two dollars per month as soon as the improvements were sug- 
gested, and long before the election which was to decide as to 
whether or not they should be effected ! Inasmuch as it was shown 
that the increase in rents should average but one dollar per year on a 
property assessed at a thousand dollars, this arbitrary action on the 
part of the landlords reacted in favor of improvements. Many rent- 
payers said, "If vve are to be taxed anyway, we might as well have 
the improvements, and we vyill vote for them." It was soon made 
obvious that the increase in rents was due to the growth of the city, 
and to the operations of law of supply and demand rather than to 
any probable increase of taxation. 

The campaign I have outlined was waged with the utmost 
vigor from the ist of January to the i8th of February. There was 
"something doing" every day, and the seven Executive Committee- 
men, all of them active business men, were assisted by many others 
who gave time and effort to this movement which promised so 
much for the city. The ladies of the Civic Club were of very great 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 13 

assistance. Through their agency a simple and admirable gospel of 
improvement was read to 8,000 school children in the various 
public schools, and by this action the truth reached many homes 
otherwise closed to it. 

As the campaign worked to a finish, the public meetings fostered 
civic enthusiasm in addition to promoting civic education. The 
last meeting in the Court House, addressed by the 
_. . p . , governor of the state, two eloquent clergymen, a 

senator and a business man, was designed to arouse 
strongly the local patriotism of the citizens. Our slogan in these 
last weeks was "Don't give your own town a black eye," and this 
we emblazoned on both sides of a trolley car kindly provided by the 
Traction Company, which was run all of the Monday preceding 
the election up and down the city streets. The novelty of this 
method of campaigning was enhanced by the big and noisy hand- 
organ kept going inside the car. 

Hating billboards, we used them, nevertheless, at the end of 
this campaign, for displaying great posters urging a vote for improve- 
ments. Late on the Saturday night preceding the election, a four- 
page paper entitled "The Harrisburg Plan" was placed in every 
house. By arrangement, most of the pulpits in the town preached 
civic improvement the next day, and for once real politics and real 
religion combined in a most admirable effort to create better con- 
ditions on earth as a preparation for the world to come. 

A perplexing political situation faced those in charge of this 

movement. A mayor, a city treasurer and a city controller were to 

be elected at the same time that the vote was to 

„.^ ^. be taken upon the million - dollar loan. Harris- 

Situation. , ,, r. .1- J u 

burg, naturally a Kepubhcan city, was under the 

administration of a Democratic mayor, whose interest in the real 
welfare of the city was dubious. An admirable Republican city con- 
troller desired reelection, and the Democratic city treasurer, just as 
capable, was also a candidate. The Republican candidate for mayor 
had been proposed by the same machine which had brought about 
the election of the existing inefficient Democratic mayor. This 
Republican candidate, while personally of good character, was weak, 
boss-controlled, and would not pronounce for the improvements, 
or for anything in particular. One of the heartiest supporters of 
the improvement movement, a wealthy young Democrat of the 



14 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

highest character who had been doing splendid service in the 
Common Council of the city, had been nominated by his party for 
the mayoralty. 

Inasmuch as partisan lines were rather strongly drawn in Harris- 
burg, the Municipal League could not directly endorse any of these 
candidates. A careful block system for the fostering of the loan 
vote had been established, and it was hoped that the people would 
be able to distinguish for themselves the necessity of electing an 
administration of an advanced character. 

The result of the election was everything that could be asked. 
Out of a total vote of 1 1 ,039, the million-dollar loan received a 
majority of 3,590. The mayor we wanted, Vance 
„. C. McCormick, was elected by 2,566, though a 

Democrat in a Republican city, with the full 
power of the "machine" against him. The efficient and upright 
Republican city controller and the Democratic city treasurer were 
both elected by majorities closely approximating those received by 
Mayor McCormick. This time, it will be seen, the people were 
selecting men, regardless of partisan politics! Indeed, they even 
took the best three out of six candidates for city assessors, including 
two Republicans and one Democrat. 

So much for the situation on February 19, 1902. Full five years 

have now elapsed, and the city administration has necessarily been 

^. „ changed. There has been ample time for the 

Five Years . , , . • 1 • ^ 1 1 ■ 

. , impulse for improvement to smk into the old-time 

apathy of indifferent citizenship. 
It is therefore with intense satisfaction that I briefly detail the 
present status of the various movements thus inaugurated in what 
was probably the first concrete and comprehensive campaign for mu- 
nicipal advancement ever undertaken in America. I do not wish to 
be misunderstood in this statement, for the volume of improvements 
involved is not so great, compared with the many millions spent in 
the larger cities. It is the method employed: that of engaging 
expert advice for the preparation of a concrete plan so that all the 
needs of the town might be met through a coincidently proceeding 
and harmoniously interlocking plan of improvements, that challenges 
attention. With filtration incomplete and typhoid murders yet 
proceeding in Philadelphia after many years of effort, with wealthy 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 15 

Pittsburg drinking raw typhoid-laden water, with the inadequacy 
of even great Boston in some respects, with the limited success of 
spasmodic improvement movements in many other cities, it is dis- 
tinctly the most important part of this story to call attention to the 
entire and unqualified success of this, the first movement under- 
taken upon a harmoniously complete and definite plan. 

The administration of Mayor McCormick was a revelation. 
The city was cleaned up, morally and physicially, as fast as this 

active young man could bring it about. Sacrifi- 
The McCormick .. ,. j,ii 

■ , . . ^ ^. cmg important busmess mterests to do the hard, 

Admimstration. , , , , • rr 1 n 1 • 1 

arduous work of his ofiice, he called into consul- 
tation constantly the best citizens of the town. No man was 
appointed to office who was not competent, and those retained in 
office were given to understand that efficiency was their only back- 
ing, inasmuch as the "pull" had gone out of business! The police 
department was completely reorganized. The highway department 
was also placed upon a business footing, and within the time of 
Mayor McCormick's administration, but three short years, Harris- 
burg had the satisfaction of becoming one of the cleanest cities in 
the United States; for its twenty-two miles of paved streets are 
swept every day the year round, and the excellent asphalt pavements 
are really visible at all times. 

Under this same highway department, the $I00,000 involved in 
the million-dollar loan for the payment of the cost of paving street 
intersections was combined with more than a million dollars realized 
by assessing abutting properties, so that the paved area of the city 
has increased, as I have stated, to twenty-two miles, all kept clean. 
So changed has the attitude toward paving become in the city, 
that another loan has recently been voted by the people to pay for pav- 
ing more intersections. This has permitted the mak- 
AnotherLoan . . . , r tt • l > 

„ ^ , ingof contracts to increase the area of Harrisburg s 

Voted. 

paved streets to more than forty-five miles. 

Under a capable organization through the city engineer's depart- 
ment, and under the vigilant eye of the mayor, the competition for 
, , street paving resulted in unusually low rates, pro- 

p . posed by the two largest asphalt paving concerns. 

What these concerns expected to deliver I do not 
know. What they did deliver to the city I do know, for the inspec- 
tion bureau, organized under the direction of the mayor, backed 



i6 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

up by expert investigation paid for by the Municipal League, kept 
them down rigidly to the. specifications, also prepared by the Mu- 
nicipal League's expert. The paving that we have had laid down 
is good paving, and the city has been well served at a low rate. 

The test of the temper of the city came at the expiration of the 
term of Mayor McCormick, he being ineligible for reelection under 

^ „ the Pennsylvania constitution. The "machine" 

The Gross .... ■ , a r , 

. , ... ,. was agam m evidence m the eiiort of the previous 

objectionable mayor to be reelected, every one 
knowing that his reelection meant a return to the former "wide- 
open" conditions. He made a desperately active personal canvass, 
but was defeated by Edward Z. Gross, the Republican candidate, 
representing the progress and the decency of the city. I can say of 
him that he has continued and extended the admirable administra- 
tion of his predecessor. An active business man, he yet gives most 
of his time to the city affairs, and regards himself, as he should, as 
the head of the city's administration, and not as a mere perfunctory 
and relatively ornamental official. 

The matter of the sewerage problem and the filtration of the 

water had, preceding the election of February i8, 1902, been placed 

._. in charge of the Board of Public Works, including, 

o ,. J as I have before said, three admirable citizens. 

The city councils promptly passed the necessary 
legislation to enable this Board to get to work. It selected the 
same excellent engineer, Mr. James H. Fuertes, and it has com- 
pleted its work, except for the erection of the drainage dam (pre- 
vented by legislative difficulties) most successfully. Filtered water 
was served to the city beginning October, 1905, and thus in but a 
little over three years from its organization this Board, after making 
for six months exhaustive tests of the water of the Susquehanna, 
followed with the installation of a modern filtration plant able to 
supply from nine to twelve million gallons a day of pure, clear, 
sparkling. water, in place of the muddy, culm-mixed and typhoid- 
polluted fluid previously served to our defenceless citizens. Careful 
daily bacteriological examination of the filtered water is maintained. 

_, ^ As previously mentioned, the great intercepting 

The Intercept- , , 1 1 , 1 r 1 

o sewer has been completed, and a number of other 

mg Sewer. . 11 

main sewers have been added to the city's drainage 

system. Its term expiring, and several of its able members declining 




Work proceeding on line of Cameron Parkway, along Spring Creek. — 1906 




Wetzel's Swamp or Wildwood Park grass road. This indicates tlie beauty of this natural playground 




Outdoor gymnasium and wading pool at Twelfth Street Playground.— 1906 




Riverside Park, North Front Street. In the circle is the "Depressed Path" along the river-bank.- 1906 




Tennis courts in Reservoir Park.— 1906 



'^•0^- ■ 'S' 



<-#^*";'Tr-"- ,;. ^ I ^''^'-^M'':$3t' 



'MAmMit' 



'|SW^«.^^;| 






In Reservoir Park, near picnic grounds. — 1906 




Dedication of formal city entrance, April 20, 1906. The columns are from the old colonial Capitol, 

destroyed by fire. The bases carry commemorative bronze tablets relating to the burned 

Capitol and to the old "Camel-back" bridge. This entrance was erected under 

the auspices of the Civic Club of Harrisburg, and presented to the 

city by the estate of Col. Henry McCormick. (See page 18) 




West State Street, from Capitol. Shows central grass-plot in 120-foot street.— 1906 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 17 

reelection because of the very great drain upon their time required 
in the three years of arduous labor, a new board was elected, of no 
less capable character, and under the new loan voted in 1905 is pro- 
ceeding with further extensions of the sewerage system and with 
the rebuilding of a viaduct connecting two parts of the city. 

I have mentioned the street paving which has been effected 
under the provisions of the loan ordinance, and which is being 
-. Of f extended under the second loan. The organization 

of the street-cleaning work under the city highway 
department of Harrisburg is unique, in that this is probably the only 
city of less than 75,000 inhabitants maintaining a regular uniformed 
street-cleaning force, working with a high degree of efficiency. 
The cost is approximately $1,500 per mile per year — a very low 
cost for the admirable work performed. 

Naturally nearest my own heart is the park proposition involved 
in the loan ordinance. Concerning it, I can report that the city has 
been transformed through the operation of the park scheme. Mr. 
Warren H. Manning, the same engineer who had proposed the 
original plan, was retained to carry it into effect. A Commission 
of five citizens has proceeded vigorously with the work. 

To briefly recount its accomplishments, I may say that the river- 
front has been combined into one splendid strip of green more than 

„. _. ., a mile long, giving a superb view over the unsur- 

The Riverside . . • j • 1 j 

p , passed panorama of river, and island and mountam 

to the west, and affording easily reached breathing 
places for a vast multitude of people. Just what this means can be 
realized when it is stated, upon the authority of the Harrisburg Park 
Commission, that 368,000 people used the Riverside parks alone 
during the six months of 1906. 

More than two miles of additional river-front have been secured, 
or are in process of being secured, by the Park Commission, so that 
before long the city of Harrisburg will have the unique distinction 
of a river front untouched by commerce or residence, maintained 
as a continuous park and open for the pleasure and recreation of all 
its citizens along not less than four miles. 

This Riverside park forms an essential part of 
p 1^ the parkway scheme which is to encircle the whole 

of the city of Harrisburg, with approximately eigh- 
teen miles of driveway. Of these eighteen miles, nearly one-third 



1 8 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

have been already secured and partially opened. It is a notable 

evidence of the public spirit of property ow^ners to call attention to 

the fact that all the property required for the parkway, vv^hich 

follow^s for the most part small streams in valleys of great beauty, 

but of little agricultural or residental value in themselves, has been 

contributed without cost to the city. While it may easily be argued 

that in thus permitting the establishment of a parkway, these 

citizens increase the value of contiguous property, it can also be 

shown that high prices have been exacted elsewhere. 

The small and inadequate Reservoir Park has been more than 

trebled in size, including now eighty-nine acres of rolling land, top- 

^ . -r^ , ped by three notable summits. Lawns, drives, 

Reservoir Pa.rk ^ j ' » 

tennis courts, a golf course, swings, playgrounds, 

picnic grounds, rest-houses and a flower-garden have made this a 
most attractive spot. Each summer, through the liberality of the 
citizens and the local traction company, a series of band concerts is 
maintained in a great open natural auditorium, seating 2,500 persons 
and providing comfortable hearing for 4,000. This park is on the 
line of the parkway before mentioned. 

A playground of ten acres has been opened in a locality con- 
venient to most of the city, but immediately contiguous to what 

„ ,, . „ was the worst slum district. A great change in 

Twelfth Street , , juiu/u -uuuju 

T>, J the order and health of the neighborhood has 

Playground. . 

followed the establishment of this playground, 

which includes up-to-date apparatus and a wading-pool, the latter 

serving as a skating pond in winter. This example has led to the 

beautification of business premises close by, and, indeed, all through 

the city the park example has caused adornment to follow. 

The city's filtration plant was established on an island in the 
Susquehanna river facing the central part of the city. The southern 
J -p t P^^' ^^ ^^^^ island, including some twenty acres, 

has recently been secured for park purposes on a 
long lease at a nominal rental, from the pubhc-spirited corporation 
controUing it, and ball fields, a running course, and tennis courts 
have been established therein, to the great delight of the young 
people of the city. A park nursery, also estabHshed on this island, 
saves much money to the city. 

The proposed great natural park to the north and east of the 
city, known in the campaign as the "Wetzel's Swamp" neighbor- 



THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 19 

hood, was fully included in Mr. Manning's comprehensive plan. By 

cooperation with the Board of Public Works, and in connection 

with a plan for the prevention of floods in the 

1 woo Paxton Creek valley, a storage lake has been in- 

eluded with this park, now known as Wildwood 

Park. Fully two-thirds of the property involved has been acquired 

for the city, and portions of the park will be made available to the 

citizens during 1907. The total area to be included in Wildwood 

Park and Wildwood Lake approximate six hundred and fifty acres. 

The Parkway skirts its whole length on the east. 

During all this period of construction, the Municipal League 
has maintained a watchful eye upon proceedings. When a weak- 
ness was apparent in respect to paving specifica- 

. ^. tions and paving performance, the ablest paving 

League Active. . r , l t. u u 

engmeer of the country was brought here at the 

expense of the League to inspect and report. When an officious 
paving company attempted by questionable methods to capture 
most of the paving contracts, its head was sent for, interviewed, 
caused to see that politics could not take the place of performance, 
and to withdraw entirely from the field. When it appeared that 
the city councils, which have always capably assisted the improve- 
ment work, did not have a proper comprehension of a modern park 
system as a whole, the Municipal League arranged for a special 
trip to Boston, taking there not only the city councils but the 
Park Commission and the mayor, to see, under the kindly guidance 
of the Boston officials, the admirable Boston park system. This 
visit had a most wholesome effect. 

A notable advance has been scored in city architecture, as evi- 
denced in improved school buildings, surrounded by better open 
grounds. No less notable has been the introduc- 

^ ^ tion of some miles of grass plats, both central and 

Entrance. • ^ • 1 

at the sidewalks, decreasing the cost of pavmg and 

greatly increasing comfort. The Riverside Parks before alluded to 
include a beautiful walk, known as the "depressed path," and as a 
central feature of this river-front park there is the beautiful city 
entrance. This, I am informed, is the only formal city entrance in 
the United States. Its distinguishing features are two columns from 
the old colonial State Capitol, set on dignified bases and with suit- 
able capitals, and made historically important by two bronze tablets 



20 THE AWAKENING OF HARRISBURG 

reciting the circumstances. This entrance was erected, through" 

the intervention of the Civic Club, by the heirs of Colonel Henry 

McCormick, and given to the city at a notable formal presentation 

ceremony held April 20, 1906. 

It can hardly be surprising that the whole face of the city of Har- 

risburg has been changed by this movement for improvement. 

„■ When the cost of it is inquired into, a marvel ap- 

Small Increase , , -i 1 r , , 

. ^ pears ; tor while the most favorable construction 

placed upon the cost proposed, in 1906, an increase 
in the city taxes of two mills, the effect of the improvement feeling 
in increasing enterprise, the further efifect of a better adjusted valu- 
ation, and the city's advance along all. lines, enabled the city author- 
ities to keep house properly with an increase of but one-half mill in 
the tax rate for 1906. That is, the increased cost has been barely 
one-fourth that proposed under the most favorable conditions at the 
time the movement was projected. For 1907 the tax rate has been 
fixed at a rate one-half mill less than the 1902 promise. 

During the time of the improvements here recounted, the 
state has been erecting a Capitol building to replace the old colonial 

structure destroyed by fire February 2, 1897. That 
P . . Capitol building, now completed, stands in the very 

center of the city, dominating it as its crown of 
beauty. Itself one of the most majestic and richly adorned buildings 
in the world, it incites the city to further effort for beautification. 
The all too narrow space about this great building, preventing a full 
appreciation of its majesty, will undoubtedly be increased in the near 
future by the extension of the Capitol Park. 

In conclusion, I may properly call attention to the fact that there 
is no feeling of regret at the improvements undertaken and carried 
out. On the contrary, our citizens are looking forward to greater 
achievements. A modern sewage disposal plant ; the burying of the 
wires which now obstruct our streets ; the inclusion in the great 
Wildwood Park as part of a flood-protection scheme of a pleasure 
lake more than a mile long ; the erection of a City Hall in harmony 
with existing structures, so that there shall be even in this small city 
a proper grouping of public buildings — ?re all in mind; and "Harris- 
burg, a growing city," can fairly now lay claim to being also, "Har- 
risburg, a live city." 



WHAT WE ARE VOTING ON 

(Ordinance No. 20, File of Common Council) 

"That the debt ol the City of Harrisburg should be increased 
$1,090,000 for the following purposes: 

"$310,000 for the extension, improvement and filtration of the water 

supply; 
"$365,000 for the extension and improvement of the sewerage system; 
" $65,000 for the construction of a dam in the Susquehanna River to 

form part of the improved sewerage system; 
"$250,000 for acquiring land and property for parks and for making 

park improvements; and 
"$100,000 for the creation of a fund out of which the city may defray 

the cost of paving the intersections of streets hereafter 

authorized to be paved." 

THE ONE QUESTION is the increase of the city's indebtedness for the 
purposes above noted. All the details belong to the Board of Public Works 
— Messrs. Gilbert, Stamm and Gorgas — subject to the appropriating power 
of the Councils. The plans supplied are only suggestions, and bind no 
one. They may be entirely discarded or changed in any way found best 
for the public good. 

The issue is: IMPROVEMENTS or NO IMPROVEMENTS ; 
A Greater Harrisbur g, good to live in, 
or A Dead Town? only fit to get out of I 

THE OBJECTS OF THE PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS 

1. The Abatement of the Paxton Creek Nuisance. (It is suggested to 

deepen the channel to prevent floods and to construct an intercepting 
sewer to take the drainage of half the city, thus making Paxton creek 
clean and safe.) 

2. The Correction of the Defective and Dangerous Sewers of the City. 

( This means the removal of all present difficulties and dangers to 
public health, and a great saving of money.) 

3. The Filtration of the Water Supply. (This will remove disease germs 

as well as culm and clay, and make the water safe to drink as well as 
fit to use.) 

4. The Building of a low Dam to keep the Susquehanna River about four 

feet above low-water mark. (This will cover the mouths of the 
sewers, and prevent malaria and mosquitoes.) 

5. The Creation of a Park System for the City. (This means the exten- 

sion of Reservoir Park and the opening of other parks and playgrounds, 
to be easily reached by all the people without necessarily riding on the 
trolley-cars.) 

6. The Provision of a FtMd for Paving Street Intersections. When prop- 

erty owners petition for pavements, Councils can then provide for the 
intersections. 



Extract from "The Harrisburg Plan" as placed in every house in the city 
the Saturday evening before election 




Filtration plant on Hargest's Island, in Susquehanna river, Harrisburg, Pa. Capacity, 12,000,000 
gallons daily. Loan voted February, 1902; in service, October, 1905 



3477-250 
lot 29 



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